Making a House a Home involves all aspects of homemaking- cooking, cleaning, gardening, learning to be a godly wife and mother, and, above all, following the Lord Jesus Christ in all things.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Groceries...

Groceries. Oh dear. The cost of buying groceries has gone up SOO much in the past few years!! I'd love to know what your family is paying each month on groceries.

Also, how much does your family eat out??

I shop right after each payday- the 10th and the 25th. Just last week, our bill was $260!!!! And that didn't even include any meat!!!! There are 3 adults in our home and a 4 year old. I'm not even counting formula for Caroline in this purchase. I buy store brands as much as possible and don't buy anything premade (no chips or cookies or frozen meals) because I enjoy making things from scratch. Coupons aren't always helpful since the store brand is usually much cheaper. Wow, that totals $520 a month!!

I've been doing a lot of couponing and sale searching. I have been using southern savers website along with blogs-save at home mommy and southern savings and deals. Also like "i heart publix" Publix has a ton of BOGO every week when I can stock up along with coupons which brings the costs down. It has really been fun to see how much money I can save by doing a little research before I go out.Kim O

We spend $150-200 every two weeks for my family of two adults and two small children. We eat frugal menus—I don't do coupons, but I just try to plan menus that won't cost much. I hope some day to have a bigger garden so I can grow more produce in my backyard—it never seems to be on sale! We eat out twice a month—once for lunch, once for dinner.

We have a family of four adults that I feed. I budget $200 every two weeks for groceries, although my son and his fiance' help out by buying the items they pack in their lunches, and also some breakfast items. I generally buy items that are on sale or special and plan most of my meals from the things I have on hand. We eat dinner out once every couple weeks. I also grab something off the dollar menu at mcdonalds for breakfast a few times a week.

I buy for two adult, a 4 yr old and breakfast and lunch for a 12 mo old. I spend about $300./mo. I do the bulk of my shopping at the first of the month and then just make a milk/bread and sale run the rest of the time. If the funds are there I like to stock up when things are on sale. The freezer in the garage is usually stocked with frozen veggies and meat.

It seems that everytime I go shopping the prices are going up, up, up!

Oh, and we eat out once or twice a week, but that is about to change. The financial belt is about to get tightened.

I'm shopping for and feeding 2 adults, a 12 year old (you know, always hungry), an 8 year old and a 6 year old. We usually spend about $250 each paycheck, or $500 a month. When money is really tight I can make it work on $150 for two weeks, but that is lots of sandwiches and without having snacks every day. I've been thinking about this subject a lot myself lately.

It is definitely getting tough! With our move I have no more Henry's to get dirt cheep gorgeous produce, no CVS, and no doubled coupons!

It has definitely gotten tougher.

So in our new state we are spending $400 a month for grocery and most household a month for 2 adults and 2 children. I say most because the movers would not move a bunch of stuff leaving me kind of stuck, and we had to dump weight to keep under the move allowance. So I lost a fair bit of my stock pile.

I think it will be possible once I get more caught up and figure things out more.

So far my best strategies are shopping the sales and combining coupons where I can. We shop at Costco for a lot of the baking basics, dairy, and produce and whatever else we need that is better priced there.

And we started getting our produce from a farm, a $31 box every two weeks with bananas, peppers and maybe some apples thrown in actually covers us for most of the 2 weeks, and the box is organic, fresh picked (within 2 days of us getting it) and we can swap things out if need be. I love the box.

We are hoping to not have to increase our budget.

It helps that we make as much from scratch as we can, including all the baking, and do things like use dried beans instead of canned, and go meatless a couple nights a week.

Interestingly enough, I have had the same grocery and household budget for the last 4 years....

We have budgeted $100 every two weeks for my husband and I, $200 a month. I have been able to stick to that budget quite nicely. If I go over the first two weeks, I'm more careful the second two weeks. It really requires NOT buying something we can do without. I mostly shop at Wal-Mart, so picking up a home improvement item might cause the grocery bill to be slightly higher. I try to look at it like this too, some of the items I buy, I don't have to by but once or twice a year (such as special seasonings or sauces).

The other day, after making out my August menus, I warned my husband that I may go over $100 buying two weeks of groceries...but I didn't! I only spent $90. I contribute that to sticking strictly to my grocery list. If it wasn't on the list, I didn't buy it! :D I don't waste money on extra items such as snack cakes, soft drinks, etc. Though....we splurge if there will be a three day weekend :D

We usually spend about $500 a month on groceries. It is just my husband and I, but he works away from the house for 2 weeks out of the month, so he gets $200 for those 2 weeks and I get $100. (He eats twice as much as I do.) Then for the other 2 weeks he is at home, I usually try to do most of the cooking, just because fast food gets old. We have guests over all the time to have dinner with us, but that never changes our amount of groceries. We have been changing a few things around our house, like smaller portions and healthier and lighter foods, since it is so hot here in Louisiana. That has made ur grocery bill g down a lot. I still by the same amount, that way my freezer will have a little extra in it. Once it starts getting a little fuller, I will cut back on the amount of things I by, and make menues according to what I have.

We are a family of 6 (my grandmother now lives with us) and I spend on average $150 a week on groceries. I say on average because I can get away with spending almost nothing on groceries (20 to 30 dollars) if the money is not there. I like to keep a stocked freezer and a stocked pantry for times when I have more month than money!

We spend $240 every two weeks for 2 adults and 2 children for breakfast. lunch and dinner everyday.I found this website that may help out http://www.cheapcooking.com/Recipes/chicken-baked-with-rice.htm

I also make my own sauces, Spagetti and enchalada. I make my own granola bars and laundry soap. I buy bread from a bakery outlet because I have no talent for baking my own, but that would save more as well.Hope that helps!

Hi Mrs. U,Well After reading everyone's comments my food bill will make you feel better. I spend about 1,000 a month for 2 adults. We eat organic real food and special diets. My dh has health challeges that require special foods. There is no way I can go any lower. I feel very blessed we can afford this.This has been interesting.Blessings,Elizabeth